I was asking about the space on the south side of the house in case you could put a tree or two there to help shade the house (that helps with the A/C cost) as well as the SW corner of the backyard (during the middle of the day). It would be a good idea to spend an afternoon in the backyard with your diagram, plotting exactly what part of the backyard is shaded by the fence and other people's trees (I see some in the pictures that look like they might shade part of your yard). That will give you some idea of how much sun the area near the back fence gets. [Ideally you should have done this at various times earlier in the summer as well, since the sun is higher at midsummer than in the spring and fall.] If you put a tree or two adjacent to the house, the area by the fence will be shaded in the morning. Then in the late afternoon, the area by the fence will be shaded by the fence. In general, this doesn't mean you can't grow veggies, but it means that some won't grow as quickly, and some may not be very happy. For example, theoretically tomatoes need 6 hours of sun, but some manage with less. And theoretically my daylilies shouldn't flower, as they only get sun for a couple of hours during the middle of the day -- but the middle of the day is the brightest sun, and the shade during the rest of the day is a bright shade, and they flower pretty enthusiastically. I'm not sure how much room you'll have for veggies -- at least once the prospective backyard trees(s) get larger. So you could place some of the more decorative veggies in the front or side yards. You might want to ask on the Vegetable forum for their recommendations -- not merely which veggies look better in the front yard, but also books which cover the topic. The only one I know is an oldie, Landscaping with fruits and vegetables, by Fred Hagy -- and IIRC it's more fruits than veggies, though it's also very strong on landscape design. Remember that you can obtain books your public library doesn't own through their Interlibrary Loan service (sometimes for a small fee, depending on the policies of your library and your state library system). I believe GW also has a Potager forum (a type of decorative garden of both flowers and edibles) which would give you some ideas. Carrots have beautiful foliage. Tomatoes used to be grown for their foliage and fruit color by people who believed they were poisonous (in fact, I'm growing a tomato which was developed in the U.S. a hundred years ago as a decorative plant by a man who firmly believed tomatoes were poisonous -- the joke was on him, though, because it's a particularly good-tasting variety). I have a generic Grape tomato with beautiful small-scale foliage which would look marvelous on a trellis. Sweet potatoes are grown for their foliage as well. In the front yard, hide your leafy veggies behind or in-between decorative flowers. Grow crops in the front yard which don't have obvious fruit -- red or chartreuse leaflettuce; decorative cabbage; multi-colored Swiss chard, Florence fennel with its fine, ferny tops; etc. Many herbs are perfect for a flowerbed too.

We have a three bin system. They are plastic fencing and landscape timber posts. The center bin is for storing cover materials like leaves, either in bags or just dumped into the bin. The two out side bins are for the actual composting. One bin is active having stuff added it it regularly while the other bin is for aging or curing the previously filled compost bin. My bins are each 5' cubed, you can store alot of leaves in such a space. I often also use my old holly trash cans (what I used to use for my compost bin when I lived in an apartment) for storing or collecting cover materials. The space devoted to compost here is about 15' by 5' and occasionally a couple additional trash cans.

I bought my daughter a hanging flower arrangement kinda like that last summer. It hung verticaly and there were holes/slits cut in various places in the bag, this is where the petunias grew from. It was quite small when I bought it but as it grew and became fuller it looked like a solid masss of petunias. I have also seen it with moss roses as well as ivy geraniums. Cute idea.

Hi, I am new here, but I think I have found the right place to get advice for my problem neighbors.... I own a hous ein a neighborhood that is gentrifying, albeit slowly. The houses are mostly about 100 years old, small cottages built very, very close together- in some cases the roofs touch & my bedroom window is the property line. Most of the people on my street are either fixing up their houses or at least maintaining them- but immediately next door is a rent-to-own nightmare that has been a constant source of trouble for years. Currently there are 6 adults and 4 children (I think) living in what I know to be a one-bedroom house. There are an assortment of dogs as well, some chained, some loose, and the yard, front & back is full of garbage, dog poop, toys, seats from cars and just junk. There is a constant smell and constant screaming, usually obscenities at the kids who run around naked and play in the dog poop... They have poison ivy in their back yard which spills over the fence into mine. No matter what I do in my yard to combat it, they won't deal with it on their side so it keeps coming back. The house looks like it is falling into it's self- the roof is sagging, the walls appear to be caving in. The last time it was vacant, about 18 months ago, I looked inside and the ceiling was drooping down about 12 inches in the middle and the floor was all wavy.... And since there are kids in there, I worry about their safety. I'm wondering if any of you know what you would have to do to get a house condemned or if trying to do so is even a good idea... I've called the Health Department, Child Protective Services, the ASPCA and Code Compliance, but nothing seems to get done;. I'm at my wits end- and the rest of the block is too. If we could get the lot condemned, I might be willing to shell out the cash to have the house torn down- but I'd have to get it condemned first. Do any of you know anything about what makes a house condemnable and if it's able to be condemned while people are living in it? Once it's condemned, can it be un-condemned? A huge thank you!